Development of ultrafast machine vision-activated cell sorters and its applications

　A high-quality cell sorter^※1 that is able to perform real-time image information analysis to separate a large number of cells had been desired. However, there is always a tradeoff between the processible information per cell (quality) and the number of cells per time (quantity). Therefore, there had been no high throughput imaging cell sorter that holds both the advantages of optical microscope (high quality) and flow cytometry ^※2 (high quantity).
　In order to overcome this, Dr. Ota came out with a new approach named “ghost cytometry”, originating from a concept that image reconstruction is not always necessary in image analysis when performed by machines, not by humans. humans. This method utilizes the motion of each cell in microchannels to acquire its compressed image signal by a single pixel detector, and directly applies AI to the signal, resulting in the development of the world's first, high-speed, and accurate image-free “imaging” cell sorter. This technology is expected to be widely applied in biotechnology and cellular medicine field which will benefit in medical diagnosis by using rare cells and drug screening based on cell analysis.
(※1)　cell sorter: A device that selectively separates various types of cells based on their respective characteristics.
(※2)　flow cytometry: A technology that irradiates light on cells flowing in a liquid and analyzes them by light scattering intensity and fluorescence intensity